My New Blog

2010 has been a year of relative stability. Let’s look back at some of the neighborhoods and see what has happened since 9/16/2008, the date of the financial crisis. One of the most interesting subdivisions in Cherokee County is Bridgemill. It sits at the west end of Sixes Road in south-central Cherokee. It includes approximately 3,000 homes with values ranging from $120,000 to over $1,000,000.

One good way to look at the history of the neighborhood is to track the median sale price of its homes. The median is, of course, the middle sale in a list of sales from lowest to highest.

In 2006 the median sale price in Bridgemill was $330,000. By 2009 it had dropped to $230,000. Just last quarter, the median was $270,000. It has steadily climbed since the beginning of 2010. A fabulous recovery in this economy.  In truth, it over-corrected and then recovered back to where it should have been all along.  One lesson in this is that money can still be made in this market if you can identify markets that have over-corrected and buy before it comes back.  Next time we will look at some realy big corrections in the Atlanta market.

Initially, at least, this blog will center on Cherokee County, GA real estate as seen through the eyes of a real estate appraiser. Before we look at any specific neighborhoods, let’s look at the wider metropolitan area. Values at their lowest point were down an average of 23% from their peak at the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007. Lower priced homes are generally down less and higher priced homes are generally down more. Not just in dollars but in percentage of decline which means the upper end has really suffered.

Cherokee County follows the general trends of the metro area but also suffers other effects on its markets. In markets with high numbers of foreclosures the decline in values can be even larger. Here is a break down by zip code.

Zip code    Past year     2006-2007     Percent Decline

30102         $130,000     $155,000         16%

30189         $174,000     $218,000         20%

30188         $165,000     $192,000         14%

30114         $159,000     $206,000         23%

30115         $224,000     $242,000         7%

30004         $500,000     $560,000         11%

30107         $170,000     $221,000         23%

30183         $172,000     $221,000         22%

30184         $212,000     $270,000         21%

The average decline is 17% for these zip codes in Cherokee County. That is better than 23% for metro Atlanta. If your county tax appraisal is the same or nearly the same as it was in 2006 or 2007 chances are good you should be paying less in taxes this year.  If not it is time to look into a tax appeal.